Hipstervilles

Last Wednesday I was way too early to a place I needed to be in downtown San Antonio, so I took a right on South Flores and looked around at the area that has supposedly been "regentrified". My son helped a couple open a brewery a couple of years ago in the area and all my wife and I heard was how this area was really gonna "explode". All I saw Wednesday was a bunch of lame-arse ideas already boarded up. You go just a very few blocks south and it's the same old struggling southside that was pretty much over in the 1960s when I was a kid.

It's called "SoFlo" ('cause you gotta mimick Austin) and also the "Lone Star District". (I think about 3 development deals have fallen on their face to try and reclaim and fix up the old Lone Star Brewery.)
It is sad to see the results of people that think a couple of thrown-together art galleries, some craft breweries, and some apartments is gonna make a place come alive. It takes real industry, real families, and a steady flow of cash to make something come alive.

Don't get me wrong, I dearly love the city I was born and raised in, but it always seems to come back to it's "Mañana" roots, no matter how hard anyone tries.

I can't stand being on South Congress in Austin, but I guess the sheer volume of kids wanting to be there has in fact made it stick and be a success.

How 'bout your area? Got any success stories of old places being fixed up?

Creek runner how old are you? You've got to be the most negative person on this forum. You have turned into the "get off my lawn" guy...

And you're the most ironic.

Yeah, a lot of people are trying to put lipstick on a pig.
And then you wipe off the lipstick and...
VIOLA. A pig !

I dont venture downtown very often. I hate the scooters and riders since their lives matter more than my children.

Those funking scooters! Now they allow them on road!

When we do make it downtown I try not sparta kicking someone off. It takes a little bit of brain and uncommon sense to see that scooters aren't allowed in certain areas.

Nothing will happen if nobody tries. We had a dead downtown, it has taken a long time, but our downtown has slowly came back to life. San Angelo, they have revitalized their downtown in to a great downtown. It took a few people that spent their money and time to bring it back to life, but it what was their vision is today's reality.

In both Abilene and San Angelo, downtown vacant buildings are becoming hard to find. One developer on the southside of downtown has built events centers out of 2 old buildings that were falling down. Today he has them rented far into the future. Some thought he was crazy to invest so much in dilapidated buildings, now some of those same people are regretting not getting in on the ground floor.

Oh, our true down town is getting all KINDS of new, international visitors! They're being dropped off by the bus station by really big white buses. It's gonna be great! See - I can be a glass-half-full sort of guy.

Very true. Anything is better then letting areas waste away. Dont know how or why some see it a a bad thing. I was looking at houses in and around the downtown area. I tried to get in a little too late. They wanted $250 to $400 per sqft. I just couldn't do it..

The Beehive turned downtown upside down! I miss that place. Abilene is slowly growing, and by slowly I mean SLOWWW. Last I heard ACU is finally allowing Hooters? How's that going?

The Beehive wasn't the start, but was an early player. I heard that Hooters was allowed to come to town so that the "ladies" from ACU and HSU could have more off campus employment opportunities. The Methodist already partied and partied hearty, so they f=did not need the Hooters.

Most of the old businesses are happy with the slow growth, it allows them to continue to pay starvation wages. The oilfield sucked a lot of people out of the local workforce, forcing some of the cheapskates to pay a decent wage.

LOL

Talk about revitalizing a town........they re-opened the Dairy Queen in Giddings and it's booming. I went by there a few minutes ago and there were 3 cars in the drive-thru.

Rhome has had DQ for years but they got a truck stop with its own built in McDonalds AND they got a Taco Casa.

I used to enjoy seeing the horizon from my parent’s house. Now it’s a stupid orange and yellow taco stand that I refuse to eat at

Everything runs in cycles. Things rise, then fall. Repeat.

I think they have done a good job with the Pearl Brewery area.


The areas around Tobin Hill, Florida and Carolina streets are gonna be sketchy for awhile.


Some time back we went and ate at "the best restaurant in SA" located somewhere down there. It was pretty good food but It was a warehouse style building one street off from the ghetto.


I have some acquaintances building, Buying and Renovating down there. Some small places going for big money....I don't see the value. I also don't see how some freelance code writers, coffee baristas and Bloggers are affording these $350k-$450k homes....it seems the perfect buyer for those areas are a 20's something intellectual progressive who wants to be in the "scene"


that said, I applaud and welcome cleaning those areas up. But I think it will always be like Austin Hwy.....The difference between prestige & elegance and having to dodge hookers and crackheads may only be 1/4 of a mile.

Wow. What a prescient statement. This, I think, describes every big and mid-size city in this state.

I drive through my city and there are million dollar medical centers and two blocks down there are burned out buildings and overgrown lots. I drive by high-end boutiques and cafes and the next block over you're in the barrio where all of the buildings are tagged up and there's trash filling the alleys.

That also happens in small towns. I have also seen it in rural counties where there is no extra territorial jurisdiction.

Maybe that’s the reason we used to see Ft. Worth on “COPS” all the time...

Prime example....The old grain elevator in downtown Waco is now "The Silos". I don't see the attraction, but dang that former soon-to-be demolished eyesore draws a crowd. My office has a full time security guard dedicated to just kicking their visitors out of our parking lot. . They also bought "The Elite Cafe" on the circle and re-named it "Magnolia's Table". I drive by it every morning at about 5:45 and the parking lot is already full. I think they open at 7 or 8. They also bought a bunch of burned out crack houses downtown and remodeled them for vacation/weekend rentals. Lots of new construction and eateries opening up just because of them being there.

My daughter waited tables at the Elite Cafe when she was at Baylor. Pretty good food back then

Even the small towns are getting into revitalizing their towns.

An old cotton gin in Wall, just east of San Angelo is a steakhouse, https://www.facebook.com/pages/Ole-Gin-steakhouse/190094724351716

In Eola, also east of San Angelo the old school has been turned into a steakhouse and brewery. https://www.facebook.com/pages/category/Bar/eola-school-466762980135/

.

Fredericksburg was just the beginning, slowly but surely it’ll be Austin everywhere

I avoid Fredericksburg proper if I can help it. Too big of a little town for me. I feel the same about Kerrville.


I don't mind people coming in and fixing up old dilapidated buildings and making eating houses out of them. I think its a good way to recycle

rode the scooters in austin for my buddies bachelor party, probably the dumbest thing i have done in a while



rode the scooters in austin for my buddies bachelor party, probably the dumbest thing i have done in a while

Exactly. At least you recognize it. Well done.

I run through the SoFlo area sometimes. It has improved quite a bit. Many streets that had several drive by shootings a year now have middle aged folks walking their dogs. It has gotten better and real estate prices are crazy high for what you get.

I sincerely hope you're right. Thanks for posting.

They need to build a loop around Fburg. I’d use it.

'Heard about it for 20 years. 'Never happen.